Minnedosa train station dispute settled

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Published on Thursday, August 25, 2016

by Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

After years of negotiations, Canadian Pacific Railway and Minnedosa Heritage Inc. have come to an agreement on the town’s historic train station. The deal sees CP Rail reclaim ownership of the structure, while Minnedosa Heritage received a monetary settlement to help compensate for its costs of preserving the building. Due to a confidentiality clause attached to the agreement, the exact amount of the settlement has not been made public.

This deal appears to the final chapter in a saga that had been ongoing since 2005. During the CP Rail’s Holiday Train in Minnedosa that year, railway representatives made an announcement where they offered the historic station to the community for the cost of $1. The building, which was built in 1910, was last used as a train station in 1960. However, CP continued to use it as office space until 2000.

Once a basic verbal understanding on the transfer was secured, heritage committee members got to work making repairs to the exterior of the building.  After years of negotiations, however, with no formal signed agreement, CP declared in January of this year that they would instead start using the building itself once again. Heritage Inc. was offered access to the train station’s attic, but the group determined that the space would not work. CP Rail replied to that with the $75,000 payout offer. Heritage Inc. turned down the deal and made a counter-offer, asking for $110,000 in compensation. CP rejected that proposal. 

Minnedosa Heritage Inc. chair Brion Pollon said via email that the committee members are looking at its future options.

“Since our last meeting at the 50 Plus Centre [in Minnedosa], where we conjectured that we would construct a replica station, we have received proposals on two former station buildings,” said Pollon. “One is the Bethany CN station, which was converted to a residence just outside Minnedosa and the other is the LaRiviere CP station, which is located at the now closed Archibald Museum near Somerset.”

Pollon added that in addition to those options, Heritage Inc. is still weighing the possibility of a replica building. Committee members met with the Heritage Village board recently to advise them as to what options were being considered and they were very receptive to all three possibilities. A timeline for any of these options has not yet been made public.